The Year in Music: March 2010

Records were broken and notable songs were released in March 2010, which is the latest focus of our look at the year’s biggest events in music.

Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” gives her a rare Billboard chart accomplishment: her sixth No. 1 single on the Hot 100. A female artist hasn’t done this since 2000.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts the Hollies, Genesis, ABBA, Jimmy Cliff, and the Stooges in a ceremony at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Justin Bieber releases his first full-length album My World 2.0. It sells over 283,000 copies, making Bieber the youngest singer since Stevie Wonder in 1963 to debut at No. 1 on the album chart.

New singles released this month include smash duet “Nothin’ on You” by B.o.B. and Bruno Mars, adult-contemporary/pop crossover hit “Haven’t Met You Yet” by Michael Buble, and Ok Go’s “This Too Shall Pass”, which is noted for its highly mechanical music video.

A biopic on the female ’70s rock group The Runaways hits theatres, starring Twilight’s Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning as Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. The film was heavily criticized for its style over substance approach and didn’t do very well at the box office.

Alex Chilton, former lead singer of the Box Tops (“The Letter”, “Cry Like a Baby”) and Big Star (“September Gurls”, “Thirteen”), dies of a heart attack at age 59. The Replacements named a song after him in 1987, but he might be better known by younger audiences as the writer of the theme song to That 70’s Show, “In the Street”.

Big Star was previously scheduled to perform at the fourth annual South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. The event includes performances by She & Him, Muse, Kanye West, Spoon, Little Boots, Broken Social Scene, and much more, as well as a star-studded tribute to Chilton.

Gorillaz release what is rumored to be their last album, Plastic Beach.